One of the most critical features of bringing your business idea to life is having an online presence that’s powerful. But there are factors, like sticking to your budget, and making your choice for website hosting affordable is a must. With a handful of website hosting services to choose from, it can be challenging to make a decision.
You need to factor in the often expensive add-ons and plan terms as well. It’s vital to choose the correct hosting service, because it’s an essential element in launching your new online business, on budget, and with plenty of room for growth.
To help you make the best decision for your new small business endeavor, let’s dive into the different hosting options and associated costs.
2 Most Common Types of Website Hosting
1. Shared
Shared hosting is probably the most widely used and most common type for businesses just beginning their journey. But like most things, the most common or widely used option is not always the best choice. It all depends on what you need for your new business right now.
“For some sites, shared hosting is, ultimately, the best option,” Megan Hendrickson of DreamHost explained. “If your site is small, doesn’t see a ton of traffic, and doesn’t require a lot of resources, you may never need to upgrade your plan.”
Since budget is a lingering factor, choose your hosting service based on pricing, but also based on your business needs. Factors like bandwidth, control permissions, disk space, etc. should all be factored in.
How affordable is shared hosting? You can often launch a shared hosting website for as little as $5 to $10 per month. You will, however, be sharing a server with other websites, and this could cause user issues, such as slow load times and uptime problems. Choose wisely.
2. Cloud
One web hosting service that has value is cloud website hosting. It works by drawing from numerous cloud servers to act as one. This particular type of hosting has benefits, like enhanced security, scalability, and of course it’s quite affordable for new businesses.
Unknown to many new business owners, cloud hosting is pretty cheap when you look at the benefits. It was once high in price, but as cloud technology improved, the cost of cloud hosting declined significantly.
If you’re planning on having exponential growth after launch, like if you have a built-in audience already, cloud hosting can be a great option.
Website Hosting Plan Add-Ons
If you’ve already done a little web hosting due diligence, you may have noticed a number of upsell attempts by website hosting providers. These come in the form of add-ons, and they can quickly destroy your hosting budget. It is, however, important to know that you may not need 90 percent of these add-ons.
For instance, SEO and email add-ons are not a going concern for many new businesses. If you need a SEO strategy, you can easily hop on YouTube and learn a lot in just a few hours. There are also a variety of WordPress plugins you can use to accomplish many of the same things as the add-ons do.
Bottom line, you can save time and money by foregoing add-ons out of the gate. Chances are, you don’t need them anyway. At least not until you get far down the road.
A Note About Hosting Plan Length
Another budget-friendly factor to consider when it comes to website hosting is the length of the plan you choose. When it comes time to choose a plan, you’ll notice a number of monthly choices, from 12 months to 36 months. Purchasing the lengthier plan may be more beneficial for your budget.
You probably won’t be closing up shop within a year, so why not stretch your hosting plan spend a bit. For instance, you could get 50 percent to 70 percent off by choosing a 36-month plan. Make some calculations and try to leverage the best deal when it comes to plans, because you may get a more affordable price in the long run.
Wrapping Up . . .
Web hosting is more affordable than ever before. New businesses looking to launch their online presence can capitalize on a wide range of deals. Technology has made what was once quite expensive, a relatively low cost endeavor, like in the case of cloud hosting.
Look for the best deal, but be sure the website hosting service you choose works for your business needs as well. It is best to have a little wiggle room for growth, instead of experiencing site issues and providing a poor user experience later on.
